Waking Up In Vegas

Chapter Twenty Seven

The sun was setting low in the sky when the day found Trowa and Quatre settled on the porch swing of Trowa's home. They'd followed Hilde back to the Maxwell home, but had left shortly after. Delana and Cathy were busy talking... Trowa got that funny feeling again- the one that told him something was different, but he pushed it away again as his own imagination. Hilde joined Vanny and Maia in the living room, the three fighting over the TV. Howard and Cecilia had disappeared, as had Duo and Wufei. So, the two had made their way back, just holding hands and talking about this and that and everything.

Until, of course, the day found them on the porch swing playing twenty questions.

"And what's your favorite color?"

"Yellow," Trowa laughed. "Kind of embarrassing, I know. Yellow's not very masculine... and it certainly doesn't compliment my skin tone!"

Quatre laughed brightly, leaning his head against Trowa's shoulder. "Mine's green. Always has been. Such an elegant color, but still warm and friendly."

"I'd think green would suit you. It'd bring out the green in your eyes," Trowa said.

"My eyes are blue," Quatre giggled.

"Yeah..." Trowa lifted the smaller man's face up, so they could meet eyes. "But there's this ring of green around the irises. You can't see it, usually, but it's there. They usually look such a clear blue color. Like Aquamarines."

Quatre stared into Trowa's perfectly green eyes. The artist's voice had dropped down to a soft whisper, and their faces were so close.

"They're beautiful," Trowa said, almost dazed. "You're beautiful."

Quatre's lips tilted up barely as Trowa's face came closer. Breaths mingled, and Trowa's lips ghosted oh-so-softly over his own, pulling away then coming back a little bit firmer than before. Trowa's fingers traced gently up Quatre's cheek, moving back to dive into soft blond hair. Quatre's hands came up to clutch at Trowa's shirt.

Kissing Trowa was addictive, Quatre thought. He'd never be able to get enough of it. It was such a sweet, romantic scene, he figured. Sitting on a front porch swing, kissing so slow and sweet as time simply stopped, the sun not moving from it's late evening post, the wind barely breezing around them.

BEEP, BEEP!

Quatre and Trowa both jumped at the horn blaring. Their heads whipped around to where the dark red Explorer skidded into the driveway at an angle, sending gravel and dirt flying.

Trowa jumped up as the driver's door swung open and Duo scrambled out. Wufei came from the passenger seat, looking a little dazed. Quatre looked at them. Duo looked scared half to death, a mixture of fear and hope and hundreds of unreadable emotions plastered across his face. And Wufei... was... crying?

Trowa looked at his friends, at the tears coursing down Wufei's face. What the hell had happened?

"Really?" Cathy questioned.

Delana laughed, took her girlfriend's hands in her own and kissed them.

"Of course, Cath. I love you," she shrugged. "So why wouldn't I want to show you off?"

Cathy chuckled. She'd thought that maybe Delana would be self-conscious about their relationship. But Cathy should have known better. Delana was never self conscious about *anything*.

"So you'll do it? Jasper's going to finish with the horses. And Hilde's off early and going to keep Vanny and Maia company. I heard something about a 'Twilight' marathon," she giggled, imagining the two pre-teens and the teen going 'ga-ga' over a certain sexy werewolf.

"Fine, okay. I'm in. What club are we going to?"

"Chenney's!" Delana exclaimed, darting around the room, pulling the various bits of her wardrobe out. A pair of skinny blue jeans, a midriff baring plaid shirt. A pair of brown suede high heels, her favorite Stetson.

Cathy smiled, watching the woman she loved running around almost like a chicken with it's head cut off. Of course it would be Chenney's. That was Delana's favorite bar, a very country little place not far from the Ford Theater. It wouldn't be the first time Cathy had been roped into going with her.

But it would be the first time since they'd become more than friends. Hmm. That was only this morning. Hard to beleive it was only a handful of hours. Everything seemed almost perfect. Like everything made more sense now. Things had just fallen into place, as if life had just been waiting for this, for them.

Slowly. Hm. Not quite. Cathy knew she'd wanted things to go slowly... but she didn't think that would happen. No. They were both too sure about this. They would neither be willing to keep things slow when life wanted them to move ahead in leaps and bounds.

Maybe it was like a family trait between the Bartons and the Maxwells. Duo and Wufei had certainly had a whirlwind courtship... after they'd gotten over arguing over every little thing. Trowa was head over heels with his husband... whom he'd known less than a week.

And here she was. She knew she was head over heels. The more she tried to think it over, tried to reason with herself... the more she found that she didn't want reasons for it. She loved Delana. Always had, now that she'd thought it over.

She remembered that old quote. Knowledge is not information, it's transformation. How true. Knowing that Delana loved her... it didn't just tell her anything. It was the spark, the catalyst for realizing that she felt the same.

"You just gonna stand there?" Delana asked, eyes curious as she noticed her girlfriend... oh, how she loved that word!... just standing there lost in thought.

"Just thinking," Cathy replied, moving. She picked up a skirt and black shirt from atop the dresser.

"Good thoughts I hope," Delana asked, smiling.

Cathy leaned down to catch Delana's lips in a soft, chaste kiss.

"Of course. How could they be anything else when they involved you?"

Relena didn't comment on the clean black Lincoln Navigator that Heero picked up from the rental agency. It was a nice vehicle, if not something she was expecting. With what little she'd heard about the area they were going, she was expecting some kind of monstrous old pick-up truck or something.

She straightened up her blouse. She'd decided to dress down a bit. Khaki slacks and a cerulean blue silk blouse. She wasn't sure how well her business suites would look in these parts. Calmly and elegantly she slid up into the Navigator.

Heero shut the door behind her, then crossed to the driver's side. Quietly, he pulled away from the airport and out into the twisting roads that led away from it. Relena waited quietly as Heero navigated further into the city. He'd memorized the maps and knew which roads to take. He made his way through the jungle well; after all, he knew how to handle the big vehicle and he knew how to handle big cities. Huntsville was a piece of cake.

After what seemed like forever, they finally hit the right road and began to travel further away from the city. Business dwindled, and houses became few and far between... with the exception of the rather more than occasional subdivision. Open fields greeted their wandering eyes. Horses in pastures, cows chewing their grass. Dogs barking and chasing them down the road for a moment before giving up on a lost cause.

Every mile seemed to take Relena further away from the world she knew... and further into a world she knew nothing about.

AN: ^_^ Yes. I did leave it hanging like that. Gosh, I love cliff-hangers. And you may notice, but the rather disconnected timelines (the H&R one, and the T&Q one) will be merging. It should get easier to tell *when* something is happening.

And yeah, the action will soon start to pick up! And LMAO... this whole story so far has taken place in like the span of three days after they left Vegas. That's less than a week total. Wow, these guys move fast!